Literary Research

From Bentley Library Research Help

1 Literary Research: Library Catalog & Library Databases - About This Guide
2 Finding Books and Videos
3 Finding Books in Other Libraries
4 Finding E-Books
5 Finding Articles - Library Databases
6 Basic Literature Reference Books
7 Google Beta Sites

[edit] 1 Literary Research: Library Catalog & Library Databases - About This Guide

This guide will help you start your research using the Library Catalog and Library databases. Use the Library Catalog to find books, videos, and print subscriptions to periodic literature in the Bentley Library and other libraries. Use the databases to find scholarly and popular articles in periodicals, journals and newspapers. See the Literature:Reference Sources Library Guide for books in the Reference Collection.(rev.04/03/07)

If you are having difficulty location information ask the Librarian for assistance.

[edit] 2 Finding Books and Videos

Search the Library's Catalog for books and videos that provide literary analysis. See below for two examples of searching the Catalog.

Keyword Searching- Search for analysis of a particular genre or subject: To explore a topic try a keyword search in the online catalog. It may be helpful to combine your topic word with a term such as criticism, literature or interpretation. For example:

"African American" and (literature or criticism)
"fairy tales" and criticism
horror and (literature or criticism)

Subject Searching- Search for analysis of a particular author or work:

Search the Catalog using the author's name <last name,first name> as a subject in the online catalog. Type in the author's name in the <last name,first name> format and select the "subject" search from the drop-down box. For example, if you were looking for analysis of Toni Morrison your search would look like:

Now, look at the results. To see all titles that contain critical analysis of the author, click on the link that has the subheading "criticism and interpretation." In the example below, there are 6 titles providing "criticism and interpretation" of Toni Morrison.

Books devoted entirely to a specific work will have their own subheading. For example, there is 1 title in the Catalog written about Song of Solomon.

There may be books that have a chapter or section' on Song of Solomon that will not be retrieved in the example above. Search for these titles in the Catalog by choosing a keyword search and enter "song of solomon" and morrison in the search box.

Keyword Searching- Search for Videos:

To search for videos in the online Catalog select the Catalog tab on the Library's homepage and the select the Specialized Search "DVDs/Videos". Enter the name of a title, actor, or keyword in a search box. For example: to find the 60+ videos in the Lannan Literary Series your search would look like this:

The only way to continue searching and limiting to DVDs/Videos from this results screen is to select the Modify Search button:

[edit] 3 Finding Books in Other Libraries

WorldCat You can search collections in other libraries using WorldCat. WorldCat links directly to the Bentley Library Interlibrary Loan service (ILL). Interlibrary Loan is a free service that allows members of the Bentley community to borrow books and receive articles not available at the Bentley Library. You use your Bentley email address and network password to access ILL. Books can be picked up at the Bentley Library and articles will be sent via email.

ALSO!! Look for a link to WorldCat on the search results screen in the Catalog. Notice the link here on the results screen for the search on Toni Morrison:

[edit] 4 Finding E-Books

Several literary publishers publish research in series: Twayne Authors Series, Prentice-Hall's 20th Century Interpretations, Mellon's Studies in American Literature. Many volumes in Bloom's Literary Series are are available as e-books in NetLibrary. To access the full-text of books in NetLibrary you must create an account from an on-campus computer. After you have created an account you can log-in to NetLibrary from any computer.

A search for the Bloom series in NetLibrary would look like:

You will also find NetLibrary ebook links (and links to other ebooks) in the Library Catalog:

[edit] 5 Finding Articles - Library Databases

The Library subscribes to over 80 databases. The following databases contain articles and information on literature, literary criticism and related topics. Most content is full-text or has links to full-text. Interlibrary Loan is available for access to full-text content not available in the Library databases. If a link below opens to a listing of databases just scroll down to find the desired database.

[edit] 5.1 Literature - Comprehensive

Literary Reference Center

LRC is a comprehensive fulltext database. From antiquity to the present in scope it provides information on thousands of authors and their works, both as independent writers/works and in cultural context. In a single interface LRC combines articles and essays from major reference works, books, and literary journals; as well as, original content. Includes 27,500 plot summaries and overviews, 350 literary journals, 140,000 author biographies, over 500,000 book reviews, 4,000 author interviews, and images of key literary figures. Notably, LRC also includes the fulltext of over 70,000 selected poems, short stories and novels.

[edit] 5.2 Literature - Specific

Infotrac - Contemporary Authors
Infotrac - Contemporary Literary Criticism - Select
Infotrac - Dictionary of Literary Biography
MLA International Bibliography includes books and dissertations. Select from specific database listing.

[edit] 5.3 Literature - Related

These databases can also be accessed on the Library's webpage.

[edit] 5.4 Central Search

Central Search is a new Library search function that allows users to search multiple Bentley Library databases, including our Catalog, simultaneously. Great search tool but not all Library databases are in Central Search, including the Literary Reference Center. Also, the quality of results can vary widely depending on search keywords, fields and databases selected. But searching an author's, artist's or director's name, or title of a work, often will return relevant results in Central Search.

[edit] 5.5 Advanced Keyword Search in the MLA International Bibliography.

Select MLA International Bibliography from the Library's homepage.
Select MLA from the Specific Database link on the CSA Illumina page.
Select Advanced Search tab.

A search for analysis of chaucer and women could look like:

Note the use of parentheses placed around similar or synonymous search terms: women, gender.

Now, look at the results:

Note results include:

Journal Articles, Books, and Chapters/Essays and More (including Dissertations)
Full-text linking to other Library databases if available
Link to Interlibrary Loan

[edit] 6 Basic Literature Reference Books

See also the Literature: Reference Sources Library Guide for books in the Reference Collection.

General

Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism (NCLC). Ref PN 771 .G3

Excerpts from published criticism on authors who died between 1800 and 1900.

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (TCLC). Ref PN 771 .G27

Excerpts from published criticism on authors who died between 1900 and 1960.

Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ref PN451 .C624 and Online Library Database

Excerpts from published criticism on authors who are either living or who have died since 1960.
Note: online resource is not full version of the print resource.

Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Ref PN3451 .C75 2000

Dictionary of Literary Biography. Ref PN 451 .D5 1978- and Online Library Database

Includes essays on literary movements, trends, national literatures, etc.
Note: online resource is not full version of the print resource.

Biography

Contemporary Authors. Reference & Supplemental Ref PN 451 .C624 1981- and Online Library Database

Provides information for authors who are still living or who died after 1960.

Dictionary of Literary Biography. Ref PN 451 .D5 1978- Online Library Database

Presents career biographies and criticism of writers from all eras, geographies, and genres through volumes dedicated to specific types of literature and time periods.
Note: online resource is not full version of the print resource.

Drama

Critical Survey of Drama. 2nd revised ed. Ref PN1625 .C8 2003

Poetry

Poetry Criticism. Ref PN1010 .P499 1991-

Critical Survey of Poetry. Ref P PN1021 .C7 2003

Short Stories

Short Story Criticism. Ref PN3373 .S36 1988-

Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Ref PN3321 .C7 2001

[edit] 7 Google Beta Sites

What is "beta" site? Beta is a term used to describe software that is in the last stage of testing. A beta site is made available so that it can be tested in real-world environments and is called a beta test. Beta sites are often good resources but because the development of the sites may be incomplete, they may not function correctly all of the time.

Google Book. Google Book searches the full text of books. Books come primarily from two sources: publishers and several major libraries. Includes links to where books are available for purchase or to borrow via WorldCat.

Google Scholar. Google Scholar provides a way to broadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Includes links to the Bentley Library Catalog and to the full-text of articles available in Bentley Library databases [on-campus only].

--Kdelorey 09:31, 8 September 2007 (PDT)

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